How To Quickly Get Your First Copywriter Job Online (2026)
Trying to make the most of quickly get first copywriter? You are in the right place. Below we break it down in plain English, with practical tips you can actually use.
Key Takeaways
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- The legendary copywriter Claude C.
The legendary copywriter Claude C. Hopkins was once asked to define advertising. His brilliant two-word response was simply, “multiplied salesmanship.”
There’s no more powerful medium to multiply salesmanship than words, which is why quality copywriters are highly valued (and highly compensated) by businesses in nearly every industry.
In this guide, I’m going to teach you step-by-step how to become a successful copywriter , even if you’re starting from scratch.
I got my first copywriting client in 2012 on Upwork (back then it was called Elance). From there, I worked my way up to billing $150 per hour for my services, with no qualifications. And there’s no question that the skills I learned along the way are fundamental to the success of this website.
While I’m certainly not the most talented copywriter, what I do know , and what I’ll aim to teach you with this post , includes the following:
- How to learn the essential skills needed to be a good copywriter. (You don’t need to take a $2,000 copywriting course.)
- How to brand yourself to make it not only simple to find work right away, but also to become highly paid in the shortest amount of time possible.
Table of Contents
ToggleWhat a Copywriter Does
A copywriter is someone who writes words to sell products and services.
Some examples of traditional copywriting jobs include:
- Magazine ads
- Commercials
- Brochures, flyers and leaflets
And in the online space, there’s:
- General websites
- Landing pages
- Email funnels
- Blog posts
- Online ads
Why Become a Freelance Copywriter?
Highly-skilled freelance copywriters frequently have a waiting list of clients. When word gets out that you can deliver results, you’ll find that your services are a hot commodity , even as you raise your prices.
There are also opportunities to get paid based on results, earning a percentage of the revenue your writing generates. While revenue sharing agreements are less common among new copywriters than among those with experience, they do present a potential passive income source.
Finally, learning copywriting can help you across a wide range of business activities, from writing an email to your boss to growing a company on your own. Personally, copywriting is fundamental to everything I do here at The Ways To Wealth.
How to Learn Copywriting
Learning copywriting is a four-part process:
- Study excellent copy and copywriters.
- Take the lessons learned and apply them to your own project.
- Evaluate how well your copy performs.
- Test new ideas to see if you can improve upon the original.
When I got started, I actually wrote out, by hand, campaigns from the greats , people like David Ogilvy, who is widely viewed as the father of advertising.
I’d use a similar approach today.
Most people want to skip the fundamentals and go straight to tactics. But tactics change fast. If all you know is how to write an email or create Facebook Ads , but not the “why” behind why one ad is successful and one isn’t , you’ll limit your growth.
Besides just studying excellent copy, you can also take courses to learn copywriting.
However, there are two big issues with most copywriting courses:
- They frequently cost over $2,000 (after all, copywriters know how to sell).
- They’re mostly focused on tactics, such as Facebook Ads, Google Ads, email copywriting, etc…
While there is a time and a place for a course, if you haven’t read and re-read some of the classic copywriting books you will not acquire the fundamental copywriting skill necessary to succeed in the field over the long term.
Some of these books include:
- Ogilvy on Advertising
- The Copywriter’s Handbook
- The Boron Letters
- Tested Advertising Methods
- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
- Influence: Science and Practice
Types of Copywriting Jobs
An key task when starting out is finding a copywriting niche you can excel in.
You want to avoid being a generalist, which means you’re pretty good at all types of copywriting but not excellent in any one specific area.
Instead, your goal should be to position yourself as a go-to person for a specific type of copywriting service.
How can you establish a niche when you don’t have any experience?
Keep in mind that while you don’t yet have experience in copywriting, there’s something you know more about than the average person. And you can turn that above-average knowledge into your first niche.
For me, I chose to specialize in copywriting for financial services. This is not only a lucrative niche, but also one that I’m credentialed to write about, as I was (and still am) a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™.
Also, I worked in financial services, so I already understood a lot of the industry lingo and trends that were occurring. That meant I also had a good idea about what the client needed, which made it a lot easier to win contracts.
From there, I began to branch out from financial copywriting into other fields, such as health and wellness.
I’ve always been very tuned into what’s going on with the health space out of my own personal interest. Looking through my Kindle library and my bookshelves, I’ve read well over 50 books on the topic. Confident that I had above-average knowledge in health and wellness, I then started to go after clients within the space.
Ideally, it’s best to combine a topic you’re knowledgeable in, such as financial services, with a specific service offering, like:&
Final Thoughts
The bottom line: a little research on quickly get first copywriter goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.
Originally published at thewaystowealth.com.
R.J. Weiss
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